# ISO/IEC 27701:2025 A.3.5 — Classification of information

- Source: https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/iso-27701-2025/a-3-5-classification-of-information
- Section: [Compliance](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance) › [ISO/IEC 27701:2025 PIMS Controls](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/iso-27701-2025) › Security considerations
- Last updated: 2026-06-05
- Publisher: iCompaas, Inc. (https://www.icompaas.com)

**ISO/IEC 27701:2025**·Annex A `A.3.5`·high·Component: **Security considerations**

## What this control requires

> Classify information considering PII based on confidentiality, integrity and availability needs. Implementation: Implement classification scheme and apply to PII types. Justification: Ensures appropriate handling controls per sensitivity.
> 
> — ISO/IEC 27701:2025, Annex A A.3.5

### In plain English

Classify information considering PII based on confidentiality, integrity and availability needs. In practice, this means you can prove you implement classification of information-level controls on a defined cadence.

## Why it matters

ISO 27701 is the international way to evidence the GDPR principle of accountability: certified PIMS controls translate directly into the records, contracts and rights-handling that supervisory authorities want, and into the privacy-engineering evidence SOC 2 + Privacy auditors and enterprise procurement teams ask for.

This control is rated **high**. Auditors expect a named owner, a remediation SLA, and a tooling artefact that evidences continuous operation.

## What an auditor looks for

PIMS auditors expect ISO 27001 to be implemented first and then the 27701-additional controls tested. For PII controllers they look at lawful-basis and rights-handling evidence; for PII processors they look at customer-instructions, sub-processor controls and return/transfer/disposal evidence.

Within **Security considerations**, the assessor will trace your implementation back to the catalogue reference (Annex A A.3.5) and look for objective evidence on the latest two assessment cycles.

## How to implement

#### Policy Management

**Docs.** Keep each policy in version-controlled Markdown alongside the code that implements it; ship a signed PDF snapshot at each annual review and link the SHA into the SoA.

#### Asset Inventory

**AWS.** AWS Config Aggregator across every account + region gives a real-time inventory; ship the daily snapshot to S3 and surface drift in Security Hub.

**Azure.** Azure Resource Graph plus Defender for Cloud's inventory blade enumerates every subscription; export to Log Analytics for retention and Workbooks for reporting.

**GCP.** Cloud Asset Inventory exports a daily feed of every resource and IAM binding; query via BigQuery and alert on appearance/disappearance.

**Endpoints.** Pipe MDM telemetry (Intune / Jamf / Workspace ONE) into your CMDB so laptops and phones are inventoried with the same rigour as cloud resources.

### Operational checklist

-   **Implement.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
-   **Ensure.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
-   **Classify.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
-   **Scope:** classification of information.

## Evidence to collect

-   **Policy Document.** A signed and version-controlled policy / standard / procedure document.

Signed policies, procedures, and registers document the safeguard. Focus: Classification of information.

## Common pitfalls

-   Policies that no engineer has read; the version in Confluence drifts from the version that's actually being enforced.
-   Inventories that exclude SaaS, shadow IT and ephemeral cloud resources (Lambda, Cloud Run, K8s pods) miss the assets where most modern incidents start.

## How it maps to other frameworks

Computed from shared tags, control component and key-operation subjects — handy when you are reconciling controls across an audit.

-   [**ISO/IEC 27001:2022 A.5.9** — Inventory of information and other associated assets](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/iso-27001-2022/a-5-9-inventory-of-information-and-other-associated-assets)
-   [**India DPDP Act 2023 SC-007** — Lawful Processing Matrix](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/india-dpdp-act-2023/sc-007-lawful-processing-matrix)
-   [**GDPR Article 14** — Information to be provided where personal data have not been obtained from the data subject](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/gdpr/article-14-information-to-be-provided-where-personal-data-have-not-been-obtained-from-the)
-   [**CIS Controls v8 2.2** — Ensure Authorized Software is Currently Supported](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/cis-controls-v8/2-2-ensure-authorized-software-is-currently-supported)
-   [**SOC 2 (2017 TSC) C1.2** — Confidential Information Disposal](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/soc-2-trust-services-criteria/c1-2-confidential-information-disposal)

## Related controls in ISO/IEC 27701:2025

-   [**Annex A A.3.6** — Labelling of information](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/iso-27701-2025/a-3-6-labelling-of-information)
-   [**Annex A A.1.3.3** — Information for PII principals](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/iso-27701-2025/a-1-3-3-information-for-pii-principals)
-   [**Annex A A.3.4** — Information security roles & responsibilities](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/iso-27701-2025/a-3-4-information-security-roles-responsibilities)
-   [**Annex A A.3.15** — Independent review](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/iso-27701-2025/a-3-15-independent-review)
-   [**Annex A A.3.18** — Confidentiality agreements](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/iso-27701-2025/a-3-18-confidentiality-agreements)
-   [**Annex A A.3.3** — Information security policies](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/iso-27701-2025/a-3-3-information-security-policies)

## References

-   [ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 27 — ISO/IEC 27701:2025](https://www.iso.org/standard/85819.html)
-   Catalogue identifier: `Annex A A.3.5`

Topics: data protectiongovernance riskpolicy managementasset inventory